211 program still short of funds

RIVERSIDE -- A proposed countywide telephone service that would
connect callers with social service providers by dialing 211 is
short $159,000. Riverside County officials agreed Monday to close
part of the gap.

Proponents said they need $624,000 to launch the new service.
Collections and pledges to date total $465,000. The help line would
be patterned after the widely used 911 emergency service, but would
have a different purpose.

The help line is being designed to provide prompt referrals for
people who need to contact a social service agency because they are
homeless and need shelter, cannot pay rent and face eviction, have
children with drug problems, need child care, or are contemplating
suicide, among other problems, proponents said.

The program would sort out for the caller the particular social
services among 2,100 agencies countywide that are specifically
equipped to assist with their problem. At the same time, operators
would be trained to help callers in crisis situations -- such as
those threatening to kill themselves, proponents said.

While the county Board of Supervisors in a workshop Monday
welcomed the opportunity to help lift the program off the ground by
July, the supervisors said they would cover only part of the gap
and asked proponents to seek start-up money from cities, too. The
supervisors did not commit a specific amount.

Mary Salvador, chief executive officer for Volunteer Center of
Riverside County, which is designing the program, said after the
meeting it may be difficult to secure start-up funds from cities
because the group already has been soliciting commitments from
cities to pay annual costs.

"To be honest, I'm not sure that's available," Salvador
said.

The supervisors also told proponents that the county's
commitment to help launch the phone service should be viewed as a
one-time contribution. They urged the proponents to secure funding
from state, federal and private sources to pay ongoing annual
program costs of about $600,000 and to avoid becoming dependent on
the county.

Supervisor Bob Buster said it would be a mistake to rely on
allocations from the county general fund, which is heavily
influenced by the shifting winds of Sacramento politics and the
state's financial condition.

"It would be a terrible thing if the system had to crash one
year because of a lack of funding," Buster said.

The proposed program is patterned after a national one that is
available to one-third of Americans in 26 states, and is targeted
for a major expansion into California on July 1, said Gary Madden,
director of Inform Riverside County, a similar phone service run by
the nonprofit Volunteer Center of Riverside County through a
toll-free number. Madden said plans are being laid to launch 211
service on the same day in the counties of Riverside, San Diego,
Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara.

While there was confusion initially in other parts of the
country where the service was put in place, proponents said people
catch on to the system quickly. To avoid confusion with 911, the
Riverside County center is promoting 211 as the number to dial "for
help when it is not an emergency."

"As 911 is for emergency services and as 411 is for information,
211 will be for social services," Salvador said.

Proponents say 211 would take pressure off 911 because as many
as one-third of 911 calls are not for emergencies.

"It's not just the phone calls," Madden said. "Sometimes an
officer goes out to respond to a call and it turns out to be only a
social service call."

Madden estimated that the number of calls per year would total
30,000 during the first 12 months, and 120,000 four years
later.